1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and an apparatus for feeding to a kneader a given amount of starting rubber materials consisting of natural and synthetic rubbers, together with various kinds of ingredients, and more particularly to a method and an apparatus for crushing starting rubber materials of a block form storing, metering and then charging same into a kneader.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hitherto, the feeding of starting rubber materials into a kneader has been performed by manual operations. More specifically, in such operations, various kinds of rubber blocks to be kneaded are manually cut to desired sizes, respectively, after which the starting rubber materials thus cut are charged into a kneader by means of conveyors. Such a prior art using the aforesaid manual operations including metering and cutting imposes a heavy burden on operators, with the accompanied poor operational efficiency and metering accuracy.
For charging natural rubber and synthetic rubber of a block form into a kneader, rubber blocks placed on a pallet are cut to desired sizes for the metering purpose, and then the cut pieces thus prepared are fed to the kneader. However, an attempt to mechanically automate such a series of manual operations is confronted by various kinds of difficulties, because of properties, dimensions and shapes of rubber blocks and the like.
Principally, difficulties are confronted when feeding a given amount of natural rubber to a kneader and a cutter, because of non-uniformity in size, of natural rubber blocks, i.e., the troubles in feeding the rubber blocks to a cutter or clogging in the charging port of the cutter, making the automation of such operations difficult.
In contrast thereto, since synthetic rubber blocks available in the market are smaller or lighter in weight than natural rubber blocks, and since the synthetic rubber blocks are likely to be formed to a fixed shape and may be loaded on a pallet in an orderly manner, the synthetic rubber blocks may be adsorbed by a vacuum device or picked up by a metal tool having a spear-like tip by piercing same into the rubber blocks. Apparently, such operations are of poor efficiency, and to make the matter worse, such operations are confronted with another difficulty because of the tackiness of the unvulcanized rubber, resulting in the failure to provide efficient and positive operations.
On the other hand, an attempt to transport rubber granules from a crusher to a metering station by means of a conveyor for metering same leads to losses in time and power, because rubber granules are fed from a crusher in a non-continuous manner or intermittently, so that the conveyors are temporarily idle, during which time the metering device is in operation, resulting in an inefficient operation. As can be seen from this, such an intermittent transportation poses difficulties in automating the transportation of the rubber granules as well as the steps succeeding thereto.
Accordingly, it has been long desired to develop an automated feeding system, in which unvulcanized rubber blocks of a non-fixed shape are fed to a crusher in an orderly manner and the rubber granules thus prepared are metered to a given amount, followed by feeding of a given amount of rubber granules into a kneader.
It is a principal object of the invention to provide a method for crushing unvulcanized rubber blocks of a non-fixed shape, metering and feeding same to a kneader efficiently.
It is another object of the invention to provide a novel method and an apparatus for crushing several kinds of unvulcanized rubber blocks of a non-fixed shape, metering the aforesaid several kinds of rubber granules, respectively, and feeding same to a kneader.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an apparatus which avoids the manual operations including the steps of feeding unvulcanized rubber blocks of a non-fixed shape to a crusher and charging the rubber granules thus obtained into a kneader, i.e., handling, metering and charging operations, thereby providing continuous and automated operations.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a method and an apparatus, in which upon charging of unvulcanized rubber blocks of a non-fixed shape into a crusher, the rubber blocks being transported are arranged on a line, thereby enhancing the efficiency and positiveness of the succeeding processing or operations.
It is a yet further object of the invention to provide a method and an apparatus, in which for enabling a continuous processing of crushed rubber granules, a given amount of metered rubber granules are intermittently fed on to a storage conveyor which in turn advances a given distance after receiving a given amount of rubber granules, followed by continuous transfer of rubber granules to another conveyor according to inching, thus enabling the delivery of the rubber granules to the subsequent step.